Atherton is riding high at 8-1 with a tough game with North Oldham (4A) upcoming…
"Am I my brother's keeper?"
G-Money, New Jack City, 1991
One thing is for certain, with Atherton’s big win over Iroquois Thursday night, no one can say this is your big brother’s or your dad’s or even your grand-dad’s Atherton High. Not since Hall of Fame football coach Dan Goble strode the sideline has Atherton been this feared, this formidable. Anthony White, a.k.a. “Nino” has made believers out of Atherton’s players, fans, faculty, and administration. They should believe. The “Mighty A-Factory” is churning out wins off its assembly line of football opponents as skillfully as Henry Ford’s company used to churn out “Model T’s.” The Ravens will be looking for win number nine (9) when it pulls into Goshen, KY next Friday night to play a game against a top-flight, 4A team (North Oldham), who is, itself, searching for regular season win number nine (9).
H.B. Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”
Louisville, KY: In the interests of full disclosure, Atherton head football coach Anthony White and I are on fairly friendly terms and have known each other for quite a while. Anthony has always gone by “Nino” and has before gone by “Nino Brown.”
Nino Brown, in popular culture, refers generally to the movie, New Jack City, and its central character played by actor, Wesley Snipes. Nino Brown is a drug lord in New York City during the dawn of the crack epidemic.
The movie was released at the Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 1991. Its American theatrical release was by Warner Bros. Pictures, on March 8th, of the same year.
Anthony “Nino” White, a.k.a. football’s Nino Brown, is a popular figure within the KHSAA. White took a struggling Atherton football program and developed the Ravens into a perennial, 5A title contender.
Coach White knows a thing or two about branding and popularizing a program, particularly his program. Coach White refers to Atherton as the “Big A Factory.”
Like a factory, its assembly line is producing players and victories as fast as either can be manufactured. We like to refer to Atherton, around the magazine as the “Big A-Train.”
I suppose we call it that because its winning games, and challenging for championships, appears (to us) to be inevitable. How inevitable?- As inevitable as a locomotive firing down the track with little to stop it, little to even slow it, until it pulls into its ultimate destination, its championship station, if you will.
No matter what it is called, Atherton High is one heck of a story. After this week’s game with Iroquois, the Ravens stand at 8-1 with a date with North Oldham (4A, 8-1) the only remaining obstacle standing between it and its sixth consecutive win entering the KHSAA playoffs.
Whether the Big A-Factory or Big A-Train, Atherton High is an incredible story
Friday Night Fletch
Like we said, Atherton is inevitable, powerful, capable of traveling almost unimaginable speeds for incredible distances…like a train. Atherton is a certainty. Atherton is a dude factory, a win factory. It’s the Big A Factory!
Atherton’s only blemish on the schedule this season was a 12-point loss to a 6A, duPont Manual team which is 7-2 and awaiting its own invasion from Male High before its playoff journey commences. That loss to Manual was a statement in and of itself. It said, to us, Atherton belongs among the elite ball clubs at the 5A classification.
Garyon Hobbs (’27) is among the ball clubs most dynamic and recruited athletes. Hobbs leads the club in receiving, scoring, and is second in rushing. Hobbs has scored three (3) rushing TDs, four (4) receiving TDs, a housed punt return, and a two (2) pointer entering the game this past weekend with Iroquois.
Hobbs is a three-phase threat. Hobbs is among the more versatile, explosive, twitchy, and talented football players in the KHSAA in any graduating class at any classification of competition.
Hobbs plays defense. Hobbs has registered 39-tackles, seven (7)-TFLs, two (2)-sacks, a pick returned 25-yards, and a FF. Hobbs is far from lonely among the “Dudes” on the Raven’s roster.
Zai’Vion Meads (’27) has registered 49-tackles, nine (9)-TFLs, seven (7)-sacks on the year and is the 13th most highly regarded prospect in the KHSAA among ’27s; ranked among the nation’s top defensive linemen. Meads is listed at 6’3,” 273-pounds.
Donee Sutton (’26) is among the better linebackers in the KHSAA. Sutton has registered 41-tackles, 15-TFLs, seven (7)-sacks, a pair of FFs, a FR, and an INT. Sutton is 5’11,” 185-pounds, can play RB on offense, and sports a 3.0-GPA. Sutton ranks as the 10th best linebacker in the KHSAA’s among ’26s.
Look out for Atherton High all ye who wish to challenge in the 5A classification. The Ravens have the wins, the “Dudes,” the glitz, the glamour.
The Ravens have the branding, the coaching, the promotion, and the know how. The factory, the train, the juggernauts, the whatever other descriptive you wish to use to refer to the Derby City’s best 5A football team, has shown quite a lot to those of us paying close attention.
Perhaps they’re ready to show us a title! That would be Cash Money, Brother!
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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